I did not attend Horrorfest even though I was invited by several friends, horror junkies that paid for their tickets at least two months in advance. I simply waited for the 8 films to be released on DVD, and am now watching all of them in sequence. 'Unearthed' was the first. Now I know that Horrorfest showcases horror films that are low-budget and supposedly too scary or graphic for the casual audience, but seriously, 'Unearthed' is completely harmless garbage. It is a blatant, subpar rip-off of both Tremors and Alien. A ravenous creature is released by an archaeologist named Kale (Luke Goss), who looks more like a mercenary than an academic. The creature was buried inside a cave, in a chamber once used as a ritual room for a now-extinct Indian tribe. The nearby town/community sits in the middle of the desert more or less, and the local sheriff is a drunk named Annie (Emmanuelle Vaugier), who is haunted by her past, or more particularly an incident that led to the accidental shooting of a little girl. That is why she drinks, maybe. Great character actor Russell Means plays an elderly Indian who runs a gas station while his granddaughter Nodin (Tonantzin Carmelo) conducts plant research in her lab. An overturned fuel truck blocks the road, thus stranding a bunch of obnoxious one-note travelers, including two sisters and the cute cowboy they pick up, and Charlie Murphy, the irritable guy from Detroit. The monster attacks, they are picked off, seek refuge at Kale's excavation site, and even at a large ranch, where everyone has been slaughtered except for owner Rob Horn (MC Gainey), holed up with a shotgun and expensive wine.

The creature is so incredibly fake, especially when viewed from a distance and in motion; it is surprisingly most convincing when seen up close. The pacing is slow, the acting is awful, and there is a bunch of convoluted dialogue about where the creature came from and how it can be killed, by a special poison that has uranium as one of its main ingredients. There is some gore, a chest cavity that is ripped open and half-eaten remains of the monster's victims, but that is pretty much it. Watch for a scene where an explosion sends a character's body flying backwards, doing backflips on the way. The creature looks like it was modeled in part after Pumpkinhead. I certainly hope the other films are much better and more entertaining than this.

I have all the films on DVD which I got off of some friends, though your review does make me want to skip it, I think Im still going to try it out. After watching the trailer, I instantly related the film to Tremors right away. Good review though.